Ahead of #Johnson's meeting with #Merkel today, there was a lot of curiosity (but no optimism) in Berlin on whether he would have any idea up his sleeve that would solve the #Brexit deadlock. The letter Johnson sent Monday rejecting the backstop suggests he doesn't. 1/3

Without any concrete propoal and the #Brexit Party in his back that seems determined to kill any deal, he is hardly a credible negotiation partner for continental Europeans anyway. That makes another extension of the Brexit date on Oct 31 unlikely. 2/3

Although Berlin sees huge economic & political risks of a no-deal Brexit for both sides & seeks a close partnership post-Brexit, it won't blink on the backstop. The ball remains in Johnson's field - while he sets up his arguments to scapegoat the #EU in case of hard #Brexit.

3. "It can no longer be denied that a momentous and hazardous transformation is taking place. I'm mourning the passing of #France as a distinct country, or at least as the Western, Judeo-Christian nation it had hitherto been." Michel Gurfinkiel

1. Politicians are lying to you: For almost 10 years we had near zero percent #interest, #ECB & #FED printed billions of $ & € creating huge asset #bubbles in #stocks & #properties. On top thousands of foreigners bought "cheap" properties in GER.

2. On top many cities, especially #Munich, allowed only few new properties to be build - For 3 new families that reached Munich only 1 new home was build!
This scarcity is by design, since it inflates the value of existing #properties, enriching the "haves".#Habeck#Enteignungen

3. The next money printing scam are all the regulations that hit home-builders in the last plus 10 years: "Dämmung","energetische Sanierung" (to prevent loss of heat/energy) and more is expensive & thus reduces the numbers that can afford a home & increases #rents. #Enteignungen

Dear @EmmanuelMacron and Angela Merkel, opportunists from the hard right want Britain to crash out of Europe, even though a majority now wants to stay. We think the people should decide what happens next. But please give us more time.
(Projection on White Cliffs of Dover)

On my way home from #MSC2019 - and reflecting on the debates, speeches and informal meetings of the past four days in Munich. Let me share my very personal summary - w/ a focus on the transatlantic partnership. Last year, I was quite pessimistic...

So let me start with a bit of good news. In our #MSCreport, we asked who would pick up the pieces of a disintegrating global order. At least rhetorically, the Europeans and representatives of other like-minded liberal democracies have underlined their willingness to step up. 2/

Most attendees agreed that Chancellor #Merkel gave one of the best foreign policy speeches of her career. She really hit a nerve in the audience. Merkel forcefully argued that "all of us" had to pick up the pieces together.

#NEWS@RegSprecher on @mfa_russia claims: "Who puts such outlandish claims in the world, has little idea of Germany and little idea of the freedom of the press. Or he deliberately wants to put Germany in a wrong light, one way or another: I resolutely reject these allegations."

#Merkel's successor as @CDU party leader @akk:
"The RU govt aggressively attacks GER media & journalists in harmony with populists from the right & left. Journalists & editors should not be intimidated. Independent, fact-based & critical journalism is a lifeblood for democracy."